Can a Woman's Job Raise Her Heart Attack Risk?

July 18, 2012 -- Women with high-stress jobs are at higher risk of heart attacks and other heart problems compared to those with lower-stress jobs, according to a new study.

"Women who had high-strain jobs had a 40% higher likelihood of having a cardiovascular event compared to women who were in the low-strain category," says researcher Michelle A. Albert, MD, MPH, a cardiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital and an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

"High strain is defined as high demand and low control," she says. A factory job in which a worker is pressured to produce is an example.

Then came the surprise finding. Women in what she calls ''active strain'' jobs -- highly demanding, but with high control -- had the same increased risk as those in the high stress, low-control positions.

Job insecurity was not linked with a risk of heart attack, stroke, and other cardiovascular problems, Albert also found.

The study is published in PLoS ONE.

High-Stress Jobs & Women

The researchers followed more than 22,000 participants in the long-running Women's Health Study. The women's average age was 57.

The women were categorized into four job-strain groups. Job strain takes into account both the demands and the control a worker has. The groups are:

Low strain: with low demand, high control

Passive: with low demand, low control

Active: with high demand, high control

High strain: with high demand, low control

The researchers followed the women for 10 years, looking to see who had one of four types of events. They found: